Moses was ranked No. 93 on ESPN’s initial 2017 Top 100. Obviously that means he’s projected to go undrafted at the moment. DraftExpress, far and away the most comprehensive site, also has him undrafted at the moment. NBADraft.net, a popular but less-informed site, has him going No. 30, the last pick in the first round, to the Jazz, which has the Warriors’ pick in the next draft.
His age hurts him a bit, even though there was a slight uptick/resurgence with seniors in last year’s lottery (Buddy Hield, Denzel Valentine). Unless he really adds to his ballhandling and range, NBA teams will want him to play the 5. He doesn’t have the skill level of a Portis, who can play either frontcourt spot for the Bulls because of it. But Portis doesn’t have Moses’ athleticism. That’ll be his calling card — sounds like scouts love his ability to protect the rim and finish around it. Could be an energy big off the bench.
If Moses has the senior year we all expect, he will definitely put himself in position to shoot up these lists and be drafted. It’s just a matter of how high he can go.
For reference, Malik Monk is No. 15 in ESPN’s mock, No. 22 in DraftExpress’ and No. 12 in NBADraft.net’s, which actually has him going to Utah with Moses haha.
I believe his skill level is better than most believe. Damian Jones is not more skilled than Moses, and he went in the first round. Moses needs to work on being more patient in the post before he launches his shot. It will help that Arkansas will not often have two non-scoring players on the court around him this season. My guess is that his 2-pt-jumper FG% was low at 28% because of misses in the lane. He seemed pretty good on the set shot when he stepped out to me, but I don’t know what a detailed shot chart indicates. Jones was at 41% in 2-pt-jumper FG% but only shot 53% from the line. He’s not a better shooter than Moses. Moses was better at the rim.
The way the Draft and NBA GM’s now are drafting almost solely off of potential (NBA translation - AGE) … I could see Moses not getting drafted if he has an = or slighter better year than last year.
The only way I see him getting into the 1st round or high second is if he averages really close to 20, 10 and 3. I don’t see that happening, but it would be great if it did. If Dustin proves to be as good I think he could be and he hits 30 or more 3 ptrs this year, that could give Moses the space around the hoop to come close to those numbers.
I think he may have to go overseas or to the D-League and work his way in ultimately.
He averaged 16 and 9+ last season. I doubt that he needs to average 20 points on a better team to be drafted. He was better than Damian Jones in SEC play last season on a per minute basis in defensive rebounding, blocks, steals (by a ton), fouled less, TOs, and assists (on a worse team). Jones was slightly better on offensive rebounding. The big difference was that Jones shot over 60%.
Kingsley could use some improvement in passing out of the post. Nonetheless, if he could improve his FG percentages away from the rim (40%+) and at the line (70%+) while otherwise putting up the same numbers that he had last year, I bet that he would be close to the first round. He definitely gets drafted in that case.
Well, Marcus Lee got invited, and he’s not near the player that Kingsley is. Either the scouts are idiots, just overlooked Kingsley because of our record, or something fishy was going on with the invites. Calipari would have spit out his pasta had CMA offered Kingsley for Lee in a straight-up trade.
My point is … NBA looks at age so much, unless he becomes close to an All-American (at least get strongly considered) I don’t think he gets drafted. I’d agree that if he has the same year, he will close to late second round, but I think with the insurgence of youth and Foriegn professionals, it’s gonna be tough.
If our guard play this year is as good as projected and earns the respect from opponents, I look for Kingsley to have a better year than last barring injury,
He gets drafted high 2nd of late 1st round. He is just too athletic to pass up and makes improvement by leaps and bounds year after year.
Age is about potential. Considering that Moses started playing basketball late and that he sat behind Portis for two years, another year of solid improvement would give an indication that he still has more ceiling.
Besides, the Atlanta Hawks drafted 22-year-old Bembry at #21 and claimed that he was higher than that on their board. They probably aren’t expecting him to be in the rotation this season either. They developed 6-11 Mike Muscala for a couple of years before giving him any regular minutes at the age of 24. I think the old man at 22 is overblown, especially for a big with potential. Quick-leaping, 6-10 guys with skill potential that can defend on the perimeter don’t grow on trees. Of course, a deep draft will slide everybody back.
I agree with your take on Moses. A key point is that Moses has not reached his peak yet. This discussion will take a different route after next season, IMO.
I actually agree that th age/potential thing is over blown. I’m not speaking on my opinion of Moses and his game , I’m speaking from my interpretation of the trend of the NBA to be enamoured with youth /20 yrs and under athletes. Not saying he’s not good enough … I think he is… He’s better than any of the Centers that Kentucky had produced since cousins and Davis … But those get more consideration bc they’re younger and they go to Kentucky. I feel like Much of it is just about Perception rather than reality.